Former Rolling Stones' tour manager Sam Cutler

Sam Cutler is unusual for many reasons, not least of which is the fact that he worked with Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead, and lived to tell the tale.

Broadcast date Wednesday 15th October 2008

Sam Cutler is unusual for many reasons, not least of which is the fact that he worked with Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead, and lived to tell the tale.

He was the tour manager for the Stones on their legendary 'Let It Bleed' tour of 1969, and became one of the few people part of the inner sanctum of what was then probably the biggest band in the world. He was close to them but he also saw the scammers and low-lifes who managed to insinuate their way into the band's orbit.

His memoir about his wild roller-coaster life is called, appropriately enough, You Can't Always Get What You Want.

Sam used to work as a teacher, long long ago in England, and also played guitar and ran a folk club. He started producing shows and found out he was pretty good at it : "I wasn't interested so much in being a performer as in organising shows. Production is a bit like being a general - if you're going to attack Russia, you need a decent plan!"

After working on the great free concert by Pink Floyd in London's Hyde Park - the first free show there, he followed it up with Eric Clapton and Blind Faith the following year: "about 150,000 people turned up to it. Everyone was a bit taken aback by the numbers, but it worked, and everyone behaved impeccably, and they didn't trash the park". The authorities then realised that they could safely give permission for the Rolling Stones to do a similar concert, which again was organised by Sam. The band loved it, and Mick Jagger asked Sam to go and work for them.

Sam became their tour manager and they all headed off to Los Angeles, where they took over the house of Stephen Stills. He says he was in heaven, but he was concious of the job he was there to do, which was all-encompassing: "it's a massive responsibility, looking after people like the Rolling Stones. There are people out there who want to get in bed with them and give them the proverbial cuddle, but there are also people out there who may want to hurt them. So there are security issues, plus making a nice home base in a foreign country." Sam says the band were also under a lot of pressure, as they hadn't played for three years and were out of shape. Hence when he famously got on stage and introduced them as "the greatest rock and roll band in the world" he was using a bit of reverse psychology and trying to goad them into actually believing it. Mick took issue with him after the concert and and said "don't introduce us like that". Sam retorted "well you either are, or you're not. What's happening here man?" It seemed to have the desired effect; the band went back into rehearsal and after two weeks they were back on top.

Sam will never forget the horror of Altamont, the most infamous event in rock history. He described to Richard the true unfolding of events before, during and after the notorious concert where he saw a man with a gun beaten to death. "It was the heaviest experience of my life, and I think the Rolling Stones' life"

He managed tours for the Grateful Dead and became friends with many a great name in the music industry, including Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd.

Sam's living a calmer life now in a leafy Australian suburb, and says despite the years of hard and crazy living he's doing OK "there are a lot of things I can't do because of my bad back, but I can still bonk and I can still drink, and I can still enjoy life I'm pleased to say!"